1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of electronics, and in particular to electronic chips that generate extraneous heat during normal operation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for conducting heat away from an integrated circuit, which still more particularly may be a microprocessor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical personal computer (PC), the main heat-generating component among the logic circuits is the processor, also referred to as the Central Processing Unit (CPU) or microprocessor (MP). As illustrated in FIG. 1a, a processor 102 is mounted in a socket 104, which is mounted on a (printed) circuit board 106 by mating pins 108 from the processor 102 into the socket 104. As processors continue to grow in performance, so does the heat generated by the processors. To remove heat from processor 102, a heat sink (HS) 110, having a HS base 112 and a plurality of fins 114, is secured to processor 102 by a strap 116 or other attachment means. Heat is conducted from the processor 102 to the HS base 112 and the fins 114, which dissipate heat by conduction and convection to ambient air surrounding fins 114. To provide thermal conduction between a top surface 120 of processor 102 and the HS base 112, thermal grease 118, typically a thermally conductive silicon or filled hydrocarbon grease doped with fillings such as metals, is used.
A major problem with the heat sink 110 shown in FIG. 1a is that it relies on conduction to the ambient air, which may or may not be moving enough to significantly convey away heat from the fins, depending on movement of air about the heat sink caused by fan(s) in a computer case that houses the processor 102. To aid in this air movement, a heat sink fan 122, as shown in FIG. 1b, is often used. Heat sink fan 122 includes fan blades 124 that rotate about a hub 126. Thus, there is a “dead space” below hub 126 in which there is minimal air movement. This is especially problematic since it is typically the center of processor 102 that generates the most heat. Thus, the area of processor 102 and its adjacent HS base 112 that needs the most cooling actually receives the least amount of help from heat sink fan 122.
What is needed therefore is a device that provides maximum cooling to the center portion of processor 102 and HS base 112.